Susceptors, sometimes referred to as heaters, convert microwave energy into thermal energy and are used to intensify heat at a food surface of an item to be cooked in a microwave. Such susceptors are particularly useful for browning or crisping a food's exterior while providing a hot moist interior. This property alleviates the problem of sogginess and enhances mouth feel for many microwave foods, such as cookies, egg rolls, etc.
Conventional susceptors are made by vacuum depositing a thin metal layer onto a substrate. Although a wide variety of substrates are available, the widely used disposable susceptors comprise a thin metal film deposited on a dimensionally stable dielectric substrate such as polyester which may be bound to a paper support for stability as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,360 and 4,904,836.
Microwave heating of foods with susceptors can be problematic because the hot susceptor which is in contact with food can causing burning in spots. This problem has been addressed in the art by patterning the metalized film of the susceptor to predetermine its heat intensity. Patterns, such as checkerboards and concentric circles, can be produced by varying the thickness of the metal film layer as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,836 issued to Turpin.
Many of the patterned susceptors, however, produce undesirable organoleptic properties, particularly in expandable dough products, such as cookies, baked in the microwave oven. Burnt and undercooked surface areas result from patterned susceptors known in the art because expansion and spreading of some dough occurs during microwaving to change the dough's geometry. Thus the surface area of the dough increases non-linearly with time exposing the spreading dough to a surface of the susceptor upon which it bakes. At the same time a portion of the dough remains exposed to the susceptor surface throughout the baking process causing charring in that portion.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide novel patterned susceptors which improve the organoleptic properties of expandable dough within the scope of the invention.
It is further an object of the invention to provide a reusable susceptor tray which is more environmentally friendly than the current disposable susceptors. The reusable susceptor may also double as a closure for a container in which the dough is packaged.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cookie dough composition having uniform spreading characteristics in the short baking time of a microwave oven.